Zambia HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Treatment (ZPCT) Partnership Cooperative Agreement No. 690-A-00-04-00319-00 Quarterly Report for July 1 – September 30, 2008 Submitted by Family Health International (FHI) October 31, 2008
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Zambia HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Treatment Partnership (ZPCT) works with the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Provincial Health Offices (PHOs), and District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) to strengthen and expand HIV/AIDS related services in five provinces: Central, Copperbelt, Luapula, Northern and North Western. ZPCT supports the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) goals of reducing prevalence rates and providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) by implementing technical, program and management strategies to initiate, improve and scale-up prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), counseling and testing (CT) and clinical care services for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA), including ART.
This quarter, ZPCT supported implementation of HIV/AIDS services in 220 health facilities in 35 districts in the five target provinces, with 219 of these facilities now reporting results. The health facility in Milenge District in Luapula Province has started services but is not yet reporting.
. Key activities and achievements for this reporting period include: CT services are ongoing in 218 out of 219 reporting health facilities, with 40,859 individuals receiving CT services in these facilities. PMTCT services were provided in 209 ZPCT supported facilities. 34,783 women were provided with PMTCT services (including CT), and 4254 were provided with a complete course of ARV prophylaxis. Ongoing technical assistance was provided to expand and improve clinical palliative care services in all targeted health facilities. 83,708 individuals received palliative care in all 219 reporting ZPCT supported health facilities during this quarter. ART services were available in 34 districts supported by ZPCT. It is still to be determined if the site in Milenge District will have the capacity to provide ART services in the future. This quarter a total of 6137 new clients (including 447 children) were initiated on antiretroviral therapy through 96 (including 50 outreach sites) out of the total 101 planned ART centers. Of the 96 ART sites, 90 report independently and 6 sites report through the bigger facilities. By the end of this reporting period 62,128 individuals were receiving antiretroviral therapy at ZPCT-supported sites and of these, 4227 were children. The following training courses were conducted this quarter: 61 HCWs and 57 community volunteers were trained in basic CT through three, two-week courses. 28 HCWs already trained in basic CT, were trained in child counseling. 30 community volunteers already trained in basic CT were trained in child counseling through two, one- week courses. 20 HCWs were trained in counseling supervision through a two-week course. 43 HCWs were trained in three, two-week courses in provision of PMTCT services. 20 community volunteers were trained in provision of PMTCT services through a one-week course. 101 HCWs were trained in pediatric ART and opportunistic infection (OI) management through three, one-week courses. 47 pharmacy and 16 laboratory staff were trained in commodity management. 174 HCWs were trained in dry blood spot (DBS) collection, storage and transport. 36 M&E staff and data entry clerks were trained in SmartCare software use.